Dana Goes Off on Hardy-Ostrovich Situation

The UFC came under heavy fire this week when it was announced that former NFL player Greg Hardy will be making his UFC debut on Jan. 19 on the premiere edition of UFC on ESPN+.

That card also features Rachael Ostovich taking on Paige VanZant. Last month, Ostovich suffered injuries — including a fractured orbital bone — in an alleged domestic violence incident at the hands of her husband. Ostovich was originally pulled from the fight, but a doctor’s second opinion has her back on the card. Hardy was slowly blackballed from the NFL after he was accused of domestic violence in 2014.

UFC President Dana White has argued that Ostovich has told him she is fine with Hardy competing on the card — something verified by TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter — but several critics still consider the move to be in bad taste. When asked about the situation once more at a UFC 231 media scrum, White stated he’s had enough.

“I’m not going to talk about Greg Hardy anymore,” White said. “I already covered this. I’m not playing this bulls*** with you guys. He’s on the UFC roster. He’s on the UFC roster – period, end of story.

“He’s on the roster. You guys want to be sensitive about s***. Anybody can be sensitive about anything. You can make an issue about everything. The weird thing is you guys give a [expletive], but she doesn’t. She doesn’t care. You know what she said yesterday in her statement? ‘Please stop asking me about this. I want to focus on training. I don’t want this to be an issue for me. I don’t know this guy. This guy has nothing to do with me. I have nothing to do with this guy. This guy’s never done anything to me. This isn’t an issue.'”

White further stated he feels this is an issue the media is making out to be greater than what it is.

“If you guys want to keep bringing this up and making it an issue, you can. And I get it. It probably gets hits, and it probably does well for you guys. I get it,” White said. “But she doesn’t want to talk about it anymore. So that’s the end of the story. I’m done with it. I’m done with it. I’m done with it. I’m done with it!”